Founded in 2009 by Gianfranco Satta and Rafaella Pagano, the brand is available for purchase in Greece, Bulgaria and Portugal, among others.

Never heard of them? Well, now’s your chance – they’ve come under fire this week, for naming one of their nail polishes, ‘Thick As A N*gga’.

Source: Wycon Cosmetics

Source: Wycon Cosmetics

Just imagine being in that meeting, when this shade name was being developed, and at no point being like: “… guys?”

Forbes reports that Italian beauty vlogger Loretta Grace was among the first to point out the racially-charged language used by the company to market its black nail polish. Her social media post fueled a firestorm of critique coming from Wycon’s Italy-based following underneath the company’s January 17 Instagram post, which advertises its recently launched line of Gel On nail polishes.

The company responded, saying:

They’re made-up names that are a bit crazy.”

Ok then.

As the negative responses continued to pour in, Wycon Cosmetics released another statement:

We’re sorry that this post has triggered these types of reactions: every color from our Gel On collection is inspired, with a cheerful attitude and a pinch of naivety, by famous song titles, many of which derive from the landscape of hip hop.

For example “Drop it like it’s hot” by Snoop Dogg, “Bootilicious” (sic) by Beyoncé (sic), “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent, Lollipop, Lady Marmalade etc … The reference here is “Thick Nigga” (sic) by DBangz. Wycon is the brand for everybody #nobodyexcluded is our motto and we didn’t mean to offend anybody!”

The controversy adds to the ongoing conversation surrounding brands’ treatment of people of colour. Just last week, Tarte Cosmetics were called out for the extremely limited shade range in their new foundation.

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